Chicagoist.com Twists Research That Doesn’t Blame Guns Into Research That Does

On Tuesday, the Chicago Crime Lab released its annual report, Gun Violence In Chicago, 2016. Chicago homicides rose 58 percent from last year, from 485 in 2015 to 764 in 2016.

The study examines possible causes for the rise. Police investigative stops dropped dramatically, but this “Ferguson Effect”, exacerbated by the Laquan McDonald shooting, didn’t result in a similar rise in places like New York City. The study also says arrests for homicides dropped from 36 percent to 26 percent, but admits to “… Not knowing the definitive cause of Chicago’s sudden and substantial increase in gun violence …”

However, Chicagoist.com claims the study actually blames guns. It makes up factoids that never appear in the study, such as: “the prevalence and increased deadliness of firearms in Chicago it finds jumps off the page”; “guns being used are more lethal than in the past”; “the fact that larger-ammunition, larger-magazine guns are on the rise, even above last year, dovetails with the violent crime increase.”

Chicagoist.com apparently hopes you won’t click through to the actual study—but we encourage you to do so.

In the wake of several recent murders, shootings and attacks on professional athletes, this year the National Football League is for the first time requiring its athletes to take training on gun ownership and safe storage, complex.com reports.

From the murder of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor in 2000 to the fatal shooting of former New Orleans Pelicans player Bryce Dejean-Jones in Dallas last year, attacks on NFL and NBA players have prompted many teams to beef up their security, with teams from the Golden State Warriors to the New York Giants hiring bodyguards for athletes.

Although the NBA’s most recent collective bargaining agreement bars players from possessing firearms at arenas or while on the road, and the NFL urges players not to own guns, neither body can legally or morally deny players their right to self-defense—so maybe mandatory training for some players is a step in the right direction.

In its relentless efforts to dumb down debate and drum up opposition to President-elect Trump, NBC News effectively transformed itself into an episode of “Saturday Night Live” Wednesday, when its headline shrilled, “Betsy DeVos Cites Grizzly Bears During Guns-in-Schools Debate.”

In a Tuesday confirmation hearing for DeVos, whom President-elect Trump had nominated to be education secretary, gun-ban zealot U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D) of Connecticut asked, “Do you think that guns have any place in and around schools?” to which DeVos replied, “I think that's best left to locales and states to decide.”

Undeterred, Murphy badgered DeVos, demanding “You can’t say definitively today that guns shouldn’t be in schools?” DeVos replied, by way of example, that in rural Wyoming, “I would imagine that there’s probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies.” And so, with NBC’s help, “potential grizzlies” became the sophomoric Twitter hashtag of the day. LULZ, d00dz.

Bill Introduced In Kansas House Would Kill Campus Carry

With only months left before Kansas’ landmark campus carry law is set to go into effect, a bill has been introduced in the Kansas House of Representatives that would effectively nullify the measure.

Introduced by Rep. Stephanie Clayton, R-Overland Park, on Tuesday, the bill would extend indefinitely the extension originally allowing colleges and universities extra time to draft new weapons policies—effectively allowing these institutions to postpone implementing campus carry as long as they choose. Clayton claims that because Kansas did away with its concealed-carry training requirements in 2015, two years after campus carry was passed, that the measure needed to be re-examined.

“You had to jump through all of these hoops in order to carry a concealed weapon. Now everyone can have a gun …” Clayton falsely claimed. In reality, only those over 21 who are licensed to carry concealed elsewhere would be eligible.

Even if the bill progresses, Gov. Sam Brownback seems unlikely to sign it. “My view of the Second Amendment hasn’t changed,” he said Tuesday.

Good Samaritan Who Saved Trooper A “Humble, Spiritual Guy”

We reported last week how an armed citizen helped save the life of Arizona Department of Public Safety Trooper Edward Andersson. The concealed-carry permit holder was passing by on the highway when he witnessed the officer being assaulted by Leonard Pennelas-Escobar.

On Monday, Col. Frank Milstead, Arizona’s Department of Public Safety director, held a news conference about what happened that day. He declined to identify the good Samaritan—whom he called a “very humble, spiritual guy”— but said that the bystander “believes that God put him there that morning so he could save Trooper Andersson’s life.”

According to Milstead, the armed citizen first circled around Andersson and Pennelas-Escobar to find the clearest line of sight before firing. His first two shots temporarily incapacitated the attacker, and a third shot killed him.

“He knows he did the right thing.” Milstead said. “He is trying to reconcile that in his mind, which is difficult to take a life even when you know it’s the right thing to do.”